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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. According to Eagleton, who "harnessed this Romantic humanism to the cause of the working class" in the late nineteenth-century?
(a) William Morris.
(b) Percy Shelley.
(c) Samuel Coleridge.
(d) Lord Byron.

2. Who was glad to abandon the "feminine vagaries of literature" in favor of penning war propaganda?
(a) Matthew Arnold.
(b) Lord Byron.
(c) George Gordon.
(d) Walter Raleigh.

3. Eagleton argues that the readership his book has attracted dispels the notion that literary theory is what?
(a) Misguided.
(b) Boring.
(c) Elitist.
(d) Simple.

4. What genre of writing does Eagleton provide that is an example of writing that is NOT considered to be literature?
(a) Young Adult.
(b) Science fiction.
(c) Romance.
(d) Comics.

5. Why is the example Eagleton gives of the sign in the London Underground system that "dogs must be carried on the escalator" a case of estrangement?
(a) Because the language is prosaic and straightforward.
(b) Because of the ambiguities inherent in the statement, which raises questions about its meaning.
(c) Because the directive is unambigious and therefore inherently meaningful.
(d) Because the statement is a directive where people who do not follow are estranged from society.

6. According to Eagleton, Gibbon and the authors of Genesis share what in common?
(a) Both wrote historical truth that is read as fiction.
(b) Both wrote fiction that is read as fact by some and fiction by others.
(c) They both thought they were writing historical truth, but are read as fact by some and fiction by others.
(d) Both wrote fiction that is read as historical fact.

7. From the viewpoint of Roland Barthes, Eagleton argues that "reading is less like a _______ than a _________."
(a) "Boudoir; system."
(b) "Boudoir; laboratory."
(c) "Philosophy; laboratory."
(d) "Laboratory; boudoir."

8. The Russian formalists rejected what kind of doctrines that had influenced literary criticism?
(a) Quasi-mystical religious doctrines.
(b) Quasi-mystical psychoanalytic doctrines.
(c) Quasi-mystical symbolist doctrines.
(d) Quasi-mystical fictional doctrines.

9. What "twin impacts" does Eagleton cite in the mid-Victorian period that was particularly worrisome to the ruling class?
(a) Scientific discovery and religious ideology.
(b) Scientific discovery and social change.
(c) Religious ideology and social change.
(d) Religious ideology and social statis.

10. According to Eagleton, literature is definable "not according to whether it is fictional or "imaginative," because it uses language in ____ways."
(a) Pragmatic.
(b) Profound.
(c) Peculiar.
(d) Pendantic.

11. What word does Eagleton discuss that is both a descriptive term to mean "literally untrue" as well as an evaluative term to mean "visionary" or "inventive"?
(a) Unimaginative.
(b) Idealistic.
(c) Unrealistic.
(d) Imaginative.

12. Eagleton argues that a literary work in Romantic society becomes what rather than rational and mechanical?
(a) Interesting.
(b) Spontaneous.
(c) Progressive.
(d) Ideological.

13. According to Eagleton, why did the Russian formalists NOT see a literary work as a vehicle for ideas, reflection of reality, or transcendental truth?
(a) Because they saw language as potentially empowering the masses.
(b) Because they saw language as obtuse, vague, and ephemeral.
(c) Because they saw language as a mode of speech for the wealthy.
(d) Because they saw language as words and not objects or feelings.

14. The distinction between fact and fiction in defining literature is what?
(a) Difficult.
(b) Complicated.
(c) Important.
(d) Questionable.

15. According to Eagleton, when did the Russian formalists emerge?
(a) After WWI.
(b) Before the Bolshevik Revolution.
(c) Before WWII.
(d) During the Russian Revolution.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Eagleton, as the first industrialist capitalist nation, England becomes what kind of state?

2. According to Eagleton, formalism is the application of what to the study of literature?

3. According to Eagleton, what kind of thought does literary education NOT encourage?

4. During the 1960s, what kind of students began to enter higher education that broke down assumptions about literary studies?

5. For Eagleton, opposition between "historical" and "artistic" truth does NOT apply to what?

(see the answer keys)

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